fry's high frequency words
The first 100 high frequency words ( also known as instant words) count for 50% of all words in a typical text. The first 300 words comprise 65% of all written material. Many of these words are not decodable, that is, they do not conform to phonic rules, therefore activities geared to learning these as sight words are necessary.
Common Clusters: This list of 100 common clusters are a combination of blends, word families and vowel pairs that students would encounter in early reading text. The document to the right shows the same clusters with pronunciations for teachers or EAs who wish to be confident that they are teaching the students the correct sounds.
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These are the Most Common Word Families, as identified by Wylie and Durrell ( 1970) There are slightly more than the initial 37, as I have added a few more that are common in grade one. They appear here amongst other clusters such as vowel pairs, blends and digraphs.
high frequency word powerpoints for class intervention
These powerpoints are for teachers who want to focus on students learning Fry's first 300 words. This would be appropriate for all grade one and two classrooms, as well as for students who struggle. They comprise over half the words in early texts, so reading them on sight is critical for the emergent and early reader. We have them on a 3 second roll, and during our action research project, were used both when students entered the class, while they were getting ready to begin their day and also throughout the day when there was a few minutes between subjects. It is important to note that though this is designed to aid students with sight recognition of these words, the students also should be identifying them along with clusters and word families in connected text. This all-important transfer takes time but is worth the effort as students begin to apply what they recognize in isolation to their own writing and in the books that they read.
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Word family and cluster powerpoints
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For more on sight words click link below.
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sample of connected text with HF words & clusters
This is a sample of connected text used at the grade one level. The teacher reads the sentences with the class, and they highlight, circle and identify the HF words, clusters and rules that they know. This text changes each day, and is designed to give the students focused practice with identifying those elements in authentic text.
This is a sample of the same test with some markings. It is meant to illustrate the actions that a class/student would make on a piece of simple connected text. Students mark the page according to their teacher's legend of marking. I recommend that the teacher model this strategy, followed by the class doing some together and finally, having individual students identify the elements on their own. This is another example of the " I do it, WE do it, YOU do it" philosophy.